FOOD & DRINK
Hello Honey’s new location in East Walnut Hills features roll cakes and baked goods in addition to ice cream. P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY H E L L O HONEY
Hello Again Hello Honey artisan ice cream shop and bakery opens a new storefront in East Walnut Hills BY M A I JA Z U M M O
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incinnati has an almost gratuitous number of gourmet ice cream and gelato options in which to indulge: Graeter’s, Aglamesis Bro’s, Dojo Gelato. But one of them really takes the cake (or the cream): Hello Honey. Husband-and-wife team Nitima and Brian Nicely have been serving their homemade, small-batch desserts on Vine Street downtown since 2012. And in great news for fans of excellent ice cream, the duo has recently opened a new storefront in East Walnut Hills. “We had been thinking about a second location for a long time but
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having trouble finding the right neighborhood that was a good fit for us, would reach new customers and was in need of some local ice cream,” Brian tells CityBeat. “The good people from East Walnut Hills actually approached us a couple of times about this space that was being developed and eventually we took a look at it and gave the neighborhood a little walk around and we really liked the community of small businesses that is growing there and felt like it was the right spot.” The doors are now open to Hello
JANUARY 12, 2022 - JANUARY 25, 2022
Honey at 1530 Madison Road, located near Cafe Mochiko and Branch. While this space is a bit smaller than the downtown spot, Brian says they still offer indoor seating and, obviously, their same delicious ice cream, made with fresh ingredients and free from artificial flavors and coloring. “The big difference is that we are heavily featuring our cakes and bakery items that you would not have found at our previous location,” he says. That includes a rotating selection of roll cakes, cheesecakes, brownies and cookies with fun flavor profiles. Think chocolate peanut butter and jelly roll cake or ube (sweet purple yam) cheesecake. Those same creative flavor combos are what sets Hello Honey’s ice cream apart from the rest of the pack.
“We are always playing with the flavors and having fun with them,” Brian says. Current ice cream options — which can change seasonally and week-toweek — include banana honeycomb, brown butter caramel, chocolate rootbeer, espresso chocolate chip and Thai iced tea. There are also vegan flavors, like cookies and cream (made with coconut milk) and mixed berry sorbet. While neither Brian or Nitima went to culinary school — they started Hello Honey “armed with little more than a countertop ice cream maker and sheer determination,” Brian says — Nitima is the driving force behind their stand-out offerings. “She is so creative and fearless in everything she does,” Brian says. “All of these recipes are her own and she is
